A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

a native of Africa, and sometimes called the Elder, to distinguish him from later writer of the same name, lived about the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth century of our era, in the reign of Diocletian. He was at first a teacher of rhetoric at Sicca in Africa, but afterwards, according to Jerome (Chron. ad ann. Const. M. xx.; de Vir. Illustr. 79), he was called upon in his dreams to embrace Christianity, of which he had been a zealous opponent. (Arnob. ad e. Gent. 1.39.) He accordingly became a convert, but was not admitted to baptism until he had proved his sincerity as a Christian.

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